Lu Zehou had been researching how to escape the company's surveillance.
First, the chip had to be disabled. Any electronic device with network access also had to be shut off.
At first, it was nearly impossible— the internet had infiltrated every corner of human life. Even prosthetic eyes and limbs came with network services, recording user behavior and uploading it to the cloud, all to help big data craft a personalized information cocoon.
Next came the most crucial step: severing all contact with friends.
In the digital age, you could control your own network usage, but you couldn't expect everyone around you to do the same.
If you continued socializing, disabling your chip and ditching electronics was meaningless—your friends' chips could monitor you just as easily.
To truly escape the company's surveillance, you had to become a solitary wanderer—cut off from everyone.
Lu Zehou did exactly that.
He distanced himself from the world, raised a torch in silence, and walked alone into the darkness.
In the end, he developed a device—something akin to a "field"—that, when activated, could block electromagnetic signals, various sound frequencies, and even certain biological signals. The downside: humans couldn't stay in it for long without suffering bioelectric disruption.
Lu Zehou led Qiu Yu to the corner of the warehouse, positioning her with her back to Chen Ce Bai. Then he activated the "shielding field."
Lu Zehou didn't know the full extent of Chen Ce Bai's mutations. But considering he had already acquired the unnatural ability of infinite fission, it was likely his sensory abilities had also surpassed human limits.
He could only hope this shielding field could block them.
And it worked.
The moment the field was activated, Chen Ce Bai sharply lifted his head, staring in their direction with eyes behind his lenses that were chilling to the bone.
Lu Zehou felt a cold dread pierce through him—thankfully, Qiu Yu was standing in front of him.
Otherwise, he was certain the guy would've already killed him.
Qiu Yu remained completely unaware, standing patiently by his side, waiting for him to speak.
Lu Zehou paused for a moment, then retrieved two masks from a drawer. He put on one and handed the other to Qiu Yu.
She blinked. "...What's this for?"
Lu Zehou smiled. "The company has ears everywhere. I'm confident our voices aren't being transmitted, but I can't say the same for our lip movements. Wear the mask—just in case."
Qiu Yu didn't question it. After all, Lu Zehou was going against the company; a little paranoia was to be expected.
Once she had the mask on, Lu Zehou finally asked,
"Miss Qiu, have you experienced anything…abnormally strange lately?"
"Abnormally strange? What kind of strange are we talking about?"
"Something that's never happened to you before."
Qiu Yu thought for a moment, then hesitantly replied,
"Well… yes, actually. I've had the persistent feeling that someone's watching me. But I can't locate the source of the gaze—I don't even know what method they're using to do it."
Lu Zehou asked, "Can you still feel it now?"
Qiu Yu closed her eyes and carefully tuned in to the sensation. Then she nodded.
Lu Zehou silently let out a breath of relief. Just as he suspected—Chen Ce Bai's senses had gone far beyond human. Thankfully, he'd prepared the mask ahead of time, preventing him from reading Qiu Yu's lips.
Lu Zehou glanced toward Chen Ce Bai.
Chen's face was unreadable, but his eyes were cold and restless.
He stared straight at Lu Zehou, enunciating word by word with his lips:
What are you trying to do?
Lu Zehou let out a chuckle and said to Qiu Yu,
"Don't you think your husband's protective instincts are a bit... excessive? We're just talking on the other side of the room, and he already looks like he's about to lose it."
Qiu Yu turned around and met Chen Ce Bai's gaze.
He hadn't expected her to turn—hadn't had time to hide the cold, aggressive look in his eyes. His whole body stiffened.
But Qiu Yu simply smiled at him. Her eyes crinkled above the mask, sweet and cheerful.
Then she turned back to Lu Zehou and said thoughtfully,
"I think I understand why he's so tense. He was selected by the company at a very young age and went through seven years of closed training. He never told me what exactly that training involved… but I can guess what the company might've done to him."
Lu Zehou twitched at the corner of his eye.
He wanted to tell her: Chen Ce Bai's protectiveness went way beyond "tense."
He treated her like a fragile treasure—something that might melt in his mouth or shatter in his hands.
It was a murky, warped, almost terrifying kind of obsession.
Yet she didn't mind at all. She even understood it.
Lu Zehou didn't know what to say to that, so he shifted the topic.
"Any guesses about who the observer might be?"
Qiu Yu shook her head.
"What about Dr. Chen?" Lu Zehou asked. "Being the smartest man on Earth, identifying the observer shouldn't be too hard for him, right? Unless… he already knows who it is, and just hasn't taken any action?"
Qiu Yu paused. She had nearly forgotten—Chen Ce Bai had promised to help her find the observer.
But he had done… nothing.
She trusted him completely, blindly. Whatever he said, she believed. She never questioned his actions.
She knew Chen Ce Bai loved her—deeply, intensely, almost to the point of sickness. And she enjoyed that kind of love.
But for someone who claimed to love and protect her so fiercely, why was he so indifferent to this invisible gaze in the dark?
Now, just speaking to Lu Zehou from across the room, Chen's eyes held a faint hint of murder.
Yet when the observer stared at her relentlessly, all he ever expressed was… jealousy.
Never once had he looked at the observer the way he looked at Lu Zehou.
Could it be… he had known the observer's identity from the start?
Why hadn't he told her?
Qiu Yu didn't want to doubt Chen Ce Bai, but the signs were too clear to ignore.
Thinking back, his recent behavior had indeed been strange.
He loved her—and had even admitted that he'd loved her for a long time.
He paid attention to everything about her.
Even now, she could still feel his gaze—so real it felt like a physical presence.
It overlapped with the observer's gaze, almost indistinguishable.
And yet… in the beginning, his attitude had been distant. Indifferent, even.
He had rejected her multiple times.
When she asked to lure out the observer, he refused. Maybe out of jealousy—that was still explainable.
When she asked about his past, he shut her down. That too, maybe, due to insecurity.
After all, he had admitted just last night that he only ever felt inferior around her.
All those could be excused. She could overlook them.
But there was one thing she couldn't get past.
Chen Ce Bai once told her: the billboard incident might not have been directed at her.
She hadn't questioned it at the time. She trusted him too much.
But thinking back now… it made no sense.
If the warning came from Pei Xi's obsessed fan, it shouldn't have said "stay away from her."
That sentence, short as it was, clearly had a focal point—and it was her.
And when Chen arrived, he gave a long, elaborate explanation—unusual for him—trying to ease her fears.
It didn't sound like reassurance. It sounded like… misdirection.
Later, distracted by Pei Xi's incident, she had stopped paying attention to the observer. Chen didn't bring it up again.
If not for Lu Zehou offering a clear contrast, she might never have realized how strange Chen's behavior truly was.
Based on how he reacted to Lu Zehou—hostile, paranoid, ready to kill—how could he have been so composed in the face of someone spying on her?
By now, the conclusion was unavoidable.
Qiu Yu froze, stunned like she'd been struck in the head. Her mind went blank.
She hadn't expected it. Chen Ce Bai… had known the observer's identity all along.
Or rather—
He was the observer.
Qiu Yu blinked, dazed, her first instinct being to go ask Chen Ce Bai directly.
She still trusted him, irrationally so. She didn't believe he would ever hurt her.
Even suspecting him as the observer, all she wanted was to understand why he hadn't told her.
Lu Zehou saw her intention and twitched at the mouth.
This girl and Chen Ce Bai were truly a perfect match.
A man like Chen—cold, paranoid, almost inhuman—needed someone who could offer that kind of absolute trust.
And Qiu Yu could give it.
How well-matched were they?
Any ordinary person, discovering that their most trusted loved one had been spying on them all along, would feel fear.
But this girl? She was just… confused. She actually wanted to go ask him about it.
Letting her go would ruin everything.
If she confronted Chen Ce Bai now, and they cleared up their misunderstanding, Chen would never reveal his true nature—especially not in front of the company or Qiu Yu.
Lu Zehou's plan would collapse.
His plan was simple: use Chen Ce Bai's power to destroy the monopolistic corporation.
But he couldn't just invite Chen to join his plan. That wouldn't work.
He had to provoke him—use Qiu Yu to trigger an emotional response.
Only once Chen exposed his inhuman side and turned against the company could Lu Zehou extend his invitation to the "New Dawn Project."
But if Qiu Yu went back and reconciled with him now? That was the end.
No, there was only one option left:
He had to persuade Qiu Yu to leave Chen Ce Bai.
Willingly. On her own.
Lu Zehou had no intention of breaking up the couple. Besides, they didn't seem like the kind of pair that could be broken up.
All he needed to do was persuade Qiu Yu to pretend to leave Chen Ce Bai—that alone should be enough to push him over the edge and expose his true nature.
A perfect plan, wasn't it?
One that would not only force the two of them to come clean with each other, but also bring down a monopolistic corporation and breathe life back into this decaying land.
With that in mind, Lu Zehou immediately called out to Qiu Yu.
"Miss Qiu, I'm sure by now you've realized that the one spying on you… is your husband. I know you two are very close, and I have no intention of sowing discord between you. But there's one thing I must insist on: do not confront him about it."
Qiu Yu had just been about to go speak with Chen Ce Bai. She looked up at him, puzzled. "Why not?"
"Your husband has been watching your every move in secret—without ever telling you why. Haven't you wondered about that?"
Qiu Yu lowered her eyes. "That's exactly why I need to ask him."
"..." Lu Zehou was exasperated. "No. Don't ask him. He won't tell you the truth. If I'm not mistaken, you've already asked him similar questions recently, haven't you?"
Qiu Yu hesitated for a moment, then gave a small nod.
"And did he ever give you a straight answer?" Lu Zehou pressed gently. "I can almost guarantee that if you go now and ask him, he'll dodge the question again."
"Your husband's intelligence is approaching the limits of human capability. If you confront him directly, you'll only be tipping him off. If he makes up his mind not to tell you the truth, you may never have another chance to find it out.
Do you really want to be locked in a prison of lies for the rest of your life?"
Qiu Yu didn't believe that Chen Ce Bai would deceive her for a lifetime, but he had definitely been hiding something from her—and just today, he had tried to cover it up with a flimsy lie.
Why hadn't he told her he was the one watching her?
Why was he watching her at all?
What was he hiding?
Was it malice… or something he couldn't bear to say aloud?
"What do you think I should do?" Qiu Yu asked softly.
She wasn't agreeing to follow Lu Zehou's every word—she just wanted to hear what he'd suggest.
"Before I answer," Lu Zehou said, "let me ask you—why do you think Dr. Chen is hiding the fact that he's the one spying on you?"
Qiu Yu instinctively turned slightly, almost looking back at Chen Ce Bai—but stopped herself just in time.
Her mind was in chaos, and she answered based on instinct.
"…Maybe he's afraid of scaring me. I can't think of any other reason."
"Exactly. Which means that if you ask him directly, he'll probably keep hiding things to protect you," Lu Zehou said. "If you really want the full truth… you'll have to push him."
"Push him?" Qiu Yu frowned.
Lu Zehou nodded. "Trust me. It's the only way to make him open up. I don't know him well, but from the short time we interacted, I noticed something—he doesn't care about anything, except for you being within his line of sight."
Qiu Yu was momentarily stunned.
Lu Zehou gestured for her to look. "I activated a shielding field—he can't hear our conversation, and he can't read our lips. That's why he's so agitated."
"When I say 'push him,' I don't mean hurt him. Just pretend to ask for a divorce."
"Of course, someone like Dr. Chen—with a mind like his—you can't just blurt it out. He'd see right through it. You have to gradually pull away from him. Only then can you bring up divorce without raising suspicion."
Honestly, using the idea of divorce to manipulate Chen Ce Bai ran completely counter to Qiu Yu's values.
She frowned, about to reject the plan, but then—almost involuntarily—glanced back at him.
She'd only been talking to Lu Zehou for maybe ten minutes, yet Chen Ce Bai looked like she'd been gone for an eternity. His expression was cold and visibly agitated—even she could see how off he was.
He had mild OCD and was very particular about cleanliness and posture. Outside, he'd never lean against a wall or unbutton his shirt.
But now, he was slouched against a graffiti-covered warehouse wall, violently lighting a cigarette, and had undone the top two buttons of his shirt, revealing the sharp lines of his collarbones.
Most people wouldn't understand what that meant—but she did.
She knew what was happening to him.
—He couldn't hear her.
He couldn't see her lips.
He couldn't touch her.
And it was driving him insane.
If she walked up to him now and asked why he was spying on her, why he lost control so easily—he wouldn't give her the truth.
It wasn't that she didn't trust him. It was that he had a history of hiding things.
Like the billboard incident—he'd chosen to keep that from her, too.
Lu Zehou's argument wasn't without merit.
If she wanted the truth, she'd have to push him.
But…
Qiu Yu hesitated.
Lu Zehou noticed. "What are you unsure about?"
"…I don't want to hurt him."
Lu Zehou thought she was being way too kind to Chen Ce Bai. "He's lied to you for so long, and you don't even want to get back at him a little? Just think of this as a small punishment—something to make sure he never lies to you again. You're not actually divorcing him."
Qiu Yu closed her eyes.
And glanced at Chen Ce Bai one more time.
As if sensing her gaze, Chen Ce Bai looked up with the cigarette still between his lips.
His face was unreadable—but his pupils contracted sharply into thin needles, like a predator shifting into full hunt mode.
He didn't seem to realize that he had let his animal instincts show. He stared straight at her, pulled the cigarette from his mouth, and exhaled a slow stream of smoke.
At that same moment, the "Observer" looked at her too.
Two gazes—one from a husband, the other from a spy—born of the same body, from different roles, different motives, both violent and full of conflict… yet somehow merged, staggering into each other like beasts in a deathmatch, until finally aligning on her.
Qiu Yu didn't fear Chen Ce Bai—but a chill ran down her spine.
A visceral reaction.
He really was hiding a lot from her.
And maybe… maybe Lu Zehou was right.
Maybe this really was the only way to find out the truth.
…Should she really pretend to ask for a divorce?
Was there any other way to get the truth out of him?
It didn't seem like it.
Besides, it probably wouldn't hurt him too badly… right?
She'd almost asked for a divorce once before.
Back then, he hadn't reacted much—just squeezed her face hard enough to leave bruises.
But she'd comforted him, and he'd let go.
…Maybe, just like Lu Zehou said, all she had to do was slowly distance herself, then pretend to bring up divorce. Just to push him—just far enough to make him talk.
And if she really upset him…
Well, she could always apologize a little more.
He probably wouldn't stay mad at her.
Not when he was the one who lied to her first.
Qiu Yu thought it through, then finally gave a reluctant nod.
"…I'll think carefully about your suggestion."